Control Method for Position Management System and Position Management System

The present application is based on, and claims priority from JP Application Serial Number 2025-002165, filed January 7, 2025, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to a control method for a position management system that manages a position of a target person, and a position management system used for position management of a target person.

In competitions where players compete against each other over indoor and outdoor courses, it is necessary to accurately measure a start of a player, a time the player takes to pass through predetermined points, a goal, and the like, and a method is used in which participants are required to wear RF tags. In such a method, it is necessary to set a reader for recognizing the RF tags at a measurement point or the like, which places a heavy load on the operation.

A known system that does not have restrictions on reader placement, such as the method using the RF tags, is to use position information measured by GPS and map information including a course to course-match positions of players on a map (JP-A-2016-176863).

JP-A-2016-176863 is an example of the related art.

When using GPS positioning as in the above system, the positioning satisfying the necessary accuracy cannot be performed at a specific place where the positioning is desired to be performed with high accuracy, for example, the measurement point due to an influence of multipath or the like.

A method of an aspect of the present disclosure is a control method for a position management system that manages a position of a target person using a server, a device attached to the target person, and a plurality of apparatuses disposed in a predetermined range set in advance, the control method including: acquiring, from the device configured to execute a first positioning method for acquiring position information based on a satellite signal, the position information about the device acquired by the first positioning method; determining whether the target person is present in the predetermined range; and causing the device to stop execution of the first positioning method and causing the device to acquire the position information by a second positioning method different from the first positioning method when it is determined that the target person is present in the predetermined range, in which the second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring a position of the device based on relative positions between the plurality of apparatuses and the device.

A system of an aspect of the present disclosure is a position management system for managing a position of a target person using a server, a device attached to the target person, and a plurality of apparatuses disposed in a predetermined range set in advance, in which from the device configured to execute a first positioning method for acquiring position information based on a satellite signal, the position information about the device acquired by the first positioning method is acquired, whether the target person is present in the predetermined range is determined, the device is caused to stop execution of the first positioning method, and the device is caused to acquire the position information by a second positioning method different from the first positioning method when it is determined that the target person is present in the predetermined range, and the second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring a position of the device based on relative positions between the plurality of apparatuses and the device.

Hereinafter, a position management system and a control method thereof according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 FIG. 100 100 10 20 10 30 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Referring to, a position management systemis used to manage position information about a target person US who participates in an operation of an outdoor sport competition, such as a marathon, together with time information. The position management systemincludes a large number of wearable terminals(only one of which is illustrated in the drawing) to be worn by each target person US, an anchor setcapable of detecting a position of the wearable terminalwith high accuracy, and a serverthat remotely manages a state of the wearable terminaland the like and collects information. In the case of outdoor athletic sports, the wearable terminalis attached to, for example, a back side of an athletic number card AN. The wearable terminalmay be worn on an arm of each target person US using an arm band, or the wearable terminalmay be worn on each target person US by wearing inner wear to which the wearable terminalcan be attached. In addition, the wearable terminalmay be attached to a shoe of each target person US. In this case, the wearable terminalis attached to the shoe by fastening the wearable terminalto a shoelace.

10 30 10 30 Digital information can be exchanged between the wearable terminaland the serverby inter-terminal wireless communication, such as wireless LAN represented by wireless fidelity (registered trademark) or Wi-Fi (registered trademark). The digital information may be exchanged between the wearable terminaland the servernot only by Wi-Fi but also by inter-terminal wireless communication, such as Bluetooth (registered trademark). Alternatively, LPWA communication, such as CatM1 or NB-IoT, may be used.

20 20 20 20 10 Between each of positioning anchorsA,B, andC constituting the anchor setand the wearable terminal, data signals can be exchanged by unidirectional or bidirectional ultra wide band (UWB) communication. Here, UWB communication, in a broad sense, refers to wireless communication that uses signals dispersed over a wide bandwidth and that uses impulse or carrier wave or wideband modulation. UWB communication, in a narrow sense, refers to wireless communication that uses signals dispersed over a wide bandwidth and that uses an impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) method using direct sequence modulation. Specifically, in the narrow sense, UWB communication specifically means that it satisfies, for example, "IEEE 802.15.4z" or related standard specifications. In the present specification, when referring to UWB communication, unless otherwise specified, it is used to mean UWB communication in the narrow sense.

2 FIG. 10 110 11 12 13 15 16 Referring to, the wearable terminal, which is a device, includes a first positioning circuit, a second positioning circuit, a wireless communication device, a storage device, and an arithmetic device.

11 10 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 11 11 11 10 11 a b c The first positioning circuitis a satellite positioning circuit including, for example, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, and enables measurement of a current position of the wearable terminalon the ground using an artificial satellite. The first positioning circuitexecutes positioning by a first positioning method, and includes, for example, a high-frequency circuit, a code correlation unit, and a microprocessor. In the positioning by the first positioning circuit, for example, messages including ephemeris data and the like are received from four artificial satellites, and propagation times is calculated. Then, the current position of the wearable terminalcan be measured with predetermined accuracy based on four propagation times, with three-dimensional coordinate values of the wearable terminaland a time error of the first positioning circuitas unknowns. The positioning by the first positioning circuitis absolute and is based on the ground. When a time of the artificial satellite and a time of the first positioning circuitare precisely synchronized, the current position of the wearable terminalon the ground can also be measured using three artificial satellites. The first positioning circuitis not limited to being based only on signals from the artificial satellite, and for example, may calculate positioning information with relatively high accuracy by performing correction using correction information received from a positioning accuracy station such as an electronic reference point.

12 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 110 20 20 20 12 10 20 20 20 12 12 12 12 12 a b c a b The second positioning circuitis a UWB circuit that acquires information about positioning from the positioning anchorsA,B, andC by UWB communication, communicates with each of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC by the impulse radio ultra-wideband method, and measures a relative current position of the wearable terminal, that is, the devicewith respect to each of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC with high accuracy of several centimeters or less. The second positioning circuitexecutes positioning by a second positioning method to determine a relative position of the wearable terminalwith respect to each of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC, and may include, for example, a transmission circuitand a reception circuitand may incorporate a microprocessorfor digital signal processing. Although not illustrated, the transmission circuitincludes, for example, a pulse generation unit and a pulse modulation unit, and the reception circuitincludes, for example, a synchronization circuit and a correlator.

10 10 20 20 20 10 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 10 10 20 20 20 10 20 20 20 10 20 20 20 10 20 20 20 10 10 Here, the second positioning method by UWB communication will be described. For example, the position of the wearable terminalcan be specified by measuring distances from the wearable terminalto the positioning anchorsA,B, andC. At this time, a principle of three-point positioning, which is also used in a satellite positioning system, is used. As a method for measuring the distance from the wearable terminalto each of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC, the simplest method is a method (RSSI method) using wave intensity. In this method, the distance is calculated according to a radio wave intensity of the signals of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC received on a wearable terminalside which is the receiver. This method can reduce processing load on the wearable terminaland can reduce power consumed by the wearable terminalas compared with a second method and a third method to be described later. The second method is a time of flight (ToF) method for measuring a distance using a reception time of a radio wave. In this method, transmission and reception of signals are performed a plurality of times between the positioning anchorsA,B, andC and the wearable terminalwhich is a receiver, and a distance is calculated based on a time difference (including a propagation time between apparatuses) from transmission to reception of the radio wave. This method can observe the distance with higher accuracy than the first method. The third method is a time difference of arrival (TDoA) method. In this method, the time in the positioning anchorsA,B, andC and the time in the wearable terminalare synchronized in advance, and a distance is measured by comparing an arrival time difference between each of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC and the wearable terminal. In this method, since the positioning anchorsA,B, andC perform only transmission and the wearable terminalperforms only reception, the wearable terminalcan be operated with lower power consumption than the second method.

20 20 21 20 20 10 11 10 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 20 20 20 10 10 11 3 FIG. As will be described later, the positioning anchorA can measure the current position of the positioning anchorA itself on the ground using an artificial satellite by a first positioning circuit(see). Since the positioning anchorA is fixed at a specific position in a course MC and can stably receive a satellite signal transmitted from an artificial satellite, the positioning anchorA calculates positioning information about the wearable terminalwith higher accuracy than the first positioning circuit. The wearable terminalcan receive the current position held by the positioning anchorsA,B, andC as supplementary information from the positioning anchorsA,B, andC. By combining the positioning information about the wearable terminalobtained by the second positioning method and the current position information received from the positioning anchorsA,B, andC, it is possible to obtain absolute positioning information about the wearable terminalbased on the ground, which is the positioning information about the wearable terminalwith higher accuracy than the first positioning circuitin principle.

13 10 30 13 13 30 30 The wireless communication deviceenables the wearable terminalto be communicably connected to the server. Specifically, the wireless communication deviceenables inter-terminal wireless communication such as Bluetooth or a wireless LAN. Accordingly, the wireless communication devicecan transmit data or messages to the serverand receive commands or the like from the server.

15 1 10 15 15 The storage devicestores a program PGincluding various types of data and commands for the wearable terminalto execute processing to be described later. The storage deviceis used as a non-transitory tangible storage medium that stores these types of data and commands. The storage deviceis a semiconductor storage device including a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, and the like.

16 1 15 1 16 1 16 11 10 12 20 10 10 20 20 20 1 16 30 The arithmetic devicereads the program PGincluding a command and data for executing at least a part of processing to be described later from the storage deviceand executes the program PG. The arithmetic deviceincludes a central processing unit (CPU) and the like. By reading and executing the program PG, the arithmetic deviceimplements a function of executing the first positioning method of operating the first positioning circuitto receive the satellite signal from the artificial satellite and acquiring the position information about the wearable terminalbased on the satellite signal, and a function of executing the second positioning method of operating the second positioning circuitto communicate with the anchor setand positioning the position of the wearable terminalbased on the relative distances between the wearable terminaland the positioning anchorsA,B, andC determined based on a communication result. By reading and executing the program PG, the arithmetic deviceexecuting a function of communicating with the server, periodically transmitting data specifying requested position information and time information corresponding thereto together with identification information, receiving a command requesting execution of the first positioning method or the second positioning method, and executing the corresponding positioning method in response to the request.

10 30 10 30 10 30 30 30 The positioning information calculated on the wearable terminalside is calculated, for example, every one second for a first positioning result by the first positioning method and transmitted to the serverby wireless communication every several seconds, and is calculated, for example,Hz (every 100 msec) for a second positioning result by the second positioning method and transmitted to the serverby wireless communication every one second. Since the second positioning result by the second positioning method is used to measure the time when the target person US wearing the wearable terminalpasses through a measurement point, it is necessary to measure the position at a positioning interval shorter than a positioning interval in the first positioning method to calculate a more accurate passage time. Since the serveralso needs to determine whether the target person US has passed through the measurement point in real time to some extent, the second positioning result may be transmitted to the serverat an interval shorter than a transmission interval at which the first positioning result is transmitted to the server.

11 16 10 10 11 12 16 10 12 In the positioning by the first positioning method, it is not necessary to perform calculation by the first positioning circuit, and the arithmetic devicecan perform positioning for determining a three-dimensional position of the wearable terminalbased on information about a distance between the wearable terminaland the artificial satellite obtained by the first positioning circuit. In the positioning by the second positioning method as well, it is not necessary to perform calculation by the second positioning circuit, and the arithmetic devicecan perform positioning for determining the three-dimensional position of the wearable terminalbased on distance information obtained by the second positioning circuit.

20 20 20 10 10 30 10 10 30 In the positioning by the second positioning method, when distance information between the positioning anchorsA,B, andC and the wearable terminalcan be acquired in the wearable terminal, the position calculation can be performed by the remote serveror other servers. Also in the positioning by the first positioning method, when the distance information between the wearable terminaland the artificial satellite can be acquired in the wearable terminal, the position calculation can be performed by the remote serveror other servers.

3 FIG. 20 120 21 22 25 26 Referring to, the positioning anchorA, which is an apparatus, includes the first positioning circuit, a second positioning circuit, a storage device, and an arithmetic device.

21 20 21 11 10 11 21 20 10 11 The first positioning circuitis a satellite positioning circuit including, for example, a GNSS receiver, and enables measurement of a current position of the positioning anchorA on the ground using an artificial satellite. The first positioning circuitexecutes positioning by the first positioning method, and is similar to the first positioning circuitof the wearable terminal, but performs positioning with higher accuracy than the first positioning circuit. That is, the first positioning circuitof the positioning anchorA performs correction using correction information received from a positioning accuracy station such as an electronic reference point, and calculates positioning information about the wearable terminalwith higher accuracy than the first positioning circuit.

22 10 110 22 20 12 10 20 20 The second positioning circuitis a UWB circuit that provides information about positioning to the wearable terminal, which is the device, by UWB communication. The second positioning circuitof the positioning anchorA executes positioning by the second positioning method, and is similar to the second positioning circuitof the wearable terminal. When the positioning anchorA operates with an RSSI method or the TDoA method, only a transmission circuit is sufficient, and a reception circuit is unnecessary. In contrast, when the positioning anchorA operates with the ToF method, a transmission circuit and a reception circuit are required.

20 10 20 10 10 10 10 20 10 110 In the above description, the positioning anchorA is a unidirectional transmitter or a passive node, and distance measurement or positioning is performed on the wearable terminalside. However, the distance from the positioning anchorto the wearable terminalmay be measured and the current position of the wearable terminalmay be measured on the wearable terminalside, and a distance measurement value or a positioning result may be transmitted to the wearable terminalon the positioning anchorA side. Also in this case, the wearable terminal, which is the device, acquires the position information by the second positioning method.

25 2 20 25 25 The storage devicestores a program PGincluding various types of data and commands for the positioning anchorA to execute processing to be described later. The storage deviceis used as a non-transitory tangible storage medium that stores these types of data and commands. The storage deviceis a semiconductor storage device including a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, and the like.

26 2 25 2 26 2 26 21 20 22 10 10 The arithmetic devicereads the program PGincluding a command and data for executing at least a part of processing to be described later from the storage deviceand executes the program PG. The arithmetic deviceincludes a central processing unit (CPU) and the like. By reading and executing the program PG, the arithmetic deviceimplements a function of executing the first positioning method of operating the first positioning circuitto receive a satellite signal from an artificial satellite and acquiring position information about the positioning anchorA based on the satellite signal, and a function of operating the second positioning circuitto enable UWB communication with the wearable terminaland enabling the wearable terminalto acquire the positioning information by the second positioning method.

20 20 20 20 10 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 20 20 10 20 10 Since the other positioning anchorsB andC have the same structure as the positioning anchorA and function in the same manner as the positioning anchorA, the description thereof will be omitted. When the current position of the wearable terminalis measured on a side of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC, for example, the other positioning anchorsB andC transmit distance calculation values from the positioning anchorsB andC to the wearable terminalto the positioning anchorA, and the positioning anchorA measures the current position of the wearable terminalby using a distance calculation value from the positioning anchorA to the wearable terminaland the received distance calculation values.

20 10 20 20 20 20 10 10 10 10 20 20 20 When the positioning anchorA always measures the current position of the wearable terminal, the processing load increases in the positioning anchorA. Therefore, it is necessary to distribute the load to the positioning anchorsB andC. For example, in the anchor set, a positioning anchor having the highest communication strength with the wearable terminalis caused to calculate positioning. Accordingly, it is possible to change the positioning anchor that measures the current position of the wearable terminalaccording to the position of the target person US, that is, the wearable terminal, and it is possible to distribute the load generated when the current position of the wearable terminalis measured by the positioning anchorsA,B, andC.

10 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 20 20 20 10 20 10 To compare the communication strength between the wearable terminaland each of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC, for example, each of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC transmits information about the communication strength between the wearable terminaland each of the positioning anchorsA,B, andC to another positioning anchor, and compares the communication strength between the wearable terminaland another positioning anchor transmitted from another positioning anchorand the communication strength between itself and the wearable terminal.

10 20 20 20 10 As another method for distributing the load generated when measuring the current position of the wearable terminalby the positioning anchorsA,B, andC, by assigning a positioning anchor that performs calculation in advance according to identification information about the target person US or the wearable terminal, positioning can be calculated using a positioning anchor designated according to the identification information about the target person US.

4 FIG. 30 33 34 35 36 Referring to, the serverincludes a communication device, an input and output device, a storage device, and an arithmetic device.

33 33 33 33 30 10 33 33 10 10 33 30 33 b a a a b The communication deviceincludes a first communication circuita that enables inter-terminal wireless communication, and a second communication circuitfor connecting to a mobile phone line. The first communication circuitenables the serverto communicably connect to the wearable terminal. Specifically, the first communication circuitenables inter-terminal wireless communication such as Bluetooth or a wireless LAN. Accordingly, the first communication circuitcan transmit a command or the like to the wearable terminaland receive data or a message from the wearable terminal. The second communication circuitenables the serverto connect to a network NT such as the Internet. The communication deviceincludes various interfaces, such as a network interface card (NIC) and a universal serial bus (USB).

34 36 34 36 34 The input and output devicereceives information for the arithmetic deviceto execute processing. The input and output deviceoutputs a result of processing executed by the arithmetic device. The input and output deviceincludes various input devices and output devices, and includes, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a display, a microphone, a speaker, and a touch panel.

35 3 3 30 The storage devicestores a database DBand a program PGthat includes various types of data and commands for the serverto execute processing to be described later.

3 3 10 3 10 20 10 3 10 3 34 a b c d e The program PGincludes (1) a first positioning result acquisition program Pfor acquiring the first positioning result by the first positioning method from the wearable terminal, (2) a second positioning result acquisition program Pfor acquiring the second positioning result by the second positioning method from the wearable terminal, (3) an area check processing program P3for determining whether the target person US has entered a predetermined range corresponding to a UWB coverage area of the anchor setand determining whether to cause the wearable terminalto execute positioning by the second positioning method, (4) a tracking processing program Pfor continuously acquiring the position information about the wearable terminalor the target person US and the time information when the position information is acquired, and storing the position information and the time information in association with the identification information, and (5) an aggregation processing program Pfor creating aggregation data, such as a passage time of a check point or the measurement point of each target person US, and a section passage time or a speed of each target person US, obtained by tracking processing, and outputting the aggregation data to the input and output device.

3 3 10 3 3 3 10 10 3 3 3 a b c a b When the outdoor sport competition to be managed is a marathon, the database DBincludes (1) a terminal information storage database Dthat stores the position information about each wearable terminal, (2) a course information database Dthat stores coordinate information about a course of each competition, and () a passage time database Dthat stores the passage time information when each wearable terminalpasses through the measurement point. The position information and the time information about each wearable terminalare stored in the terminal information storage database D. In the course information database D, in addition to the coordinate information along a route of the course, measurement point coordinate information (for example, coordinates of a 5 km location and a 10 km location of a current marathon course) in each course is also stored. In the passage time database Dc, in addition to the passage time of each runner at the measurement point, tracking information before and after the measurement point, a section passage time, and the like are stored. The tracking information is also used to determine whether the runner has appropriately passed through the course.

5 FIG. 4 FIG. 100 30 100 30 30 30 30 30 39 36 3 30 10 30 10 30 3 10 30 10 30 10 3 3 39 10 a b c d e a b c a d a c is a functional block diagram of the position management system. The serverof the position management systemimplements a first positioning result acquisition unit, a second positioning result acquisition unit, an area check processing unit, a tracking processing unit, an aggregation processing unit, and a display unitby the arithmetic deviceillustrated inreading and executing the program PGfor position management. The first positioning result acquisition unitacquires the first positioning result acquired from the wearable terminalby the first positioning method. The second positioning result acquisition unitacquires the second positioning result acquired from the wearable terminalby the second positioning method. The area check processing unitrefers to the course information database Db, determines whether to cause the wearable terminalto execute positioning by the second positioning method based on the first positioning result acquired by the first positioning result acquisition unit, and transmits a command to the wearable terminalas necessary. The tracking processing unitcontinuously acquires the position information about the wearable terminalor the target person US and the time information when the position information is acquired with reference to the identification information recorded in the terminal information storage database D, and stores the acquired position information and time information in the passage time database Din association with the identification information. The display unitdisplays the passage time at the measurement point for each target person US corresponding to each wearable terminal, and also displays information about completion such as whether the target person US has appropriately passed through the course, the section passage time or a lap time, a final course time, and the like.

6 FIG. 100 40 41 42 43 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 is a diagram illustrating a measurement state by the position management system. A positioning satellite systemthat enables measurement by the first positioning method includes a plurality of artificial satellites,, andas elements. The anchor setthat enables measurement by the second positioning method includes the positioning anchorsA,B, andC, and these positioning anchorsA,B, andC are fixed to a stable support device HO and supported in midair.

10 10 40 30 30 20 30 10 30 10 30 10 10 When the target person US who is a runner wearing the wearable terminaltravels on the predetermined course MC and moves outside a check area AI, the wearable terminalacquires the first positioning result by the first positioning method using the positioning satellite systemand notifies the serverof the position of the target person US. Here, the check area AI is, for example, a circular zone of 50 m centered on coordinates of a measurement point CP, which is a measurement location MP, and includes a space at a predetermined height from a ground surface. The check area AI is determined in advance on the serverside and is held as zone information. The check area AI may correspond to a UWB communication range assuming a range in which UWB communication is possible with the anchor set. That is, the check area AI is a range in which the second positioning result can be acquired by the second positioning method. The servermonitors the first positioning result obtained by the first positioning method, that is, the tracking information about the wearable terminalin real time, and when the serverdetermines that the wearable terminalhas entered the check area AI, the servertransmits a command to the wearable terminalto start acquisition of the second positioning result by the second positioning method, that is, to command positioning using UWB communication. Since the first positioning result obtained by the first positioning method has an error of about several meters or less, it is possible to accurately specify that the wearable terminalhas entered the check area AI to some extent even when using the first positioning method.

10 10 20 10 10 30 30 At a position where a reception state of the satellite signals from the artificial satellite set in advance in the course MC is poor, the determination may be made according to an acquisition state of the second positioning result, specifically, the number of positioning anchors (for example, three or more) that can communicate with the wearable terminalwhen the wearable terminalperforms UWB communication with the anchor set. That is, when the wearable terminalreceives a UWB communication signal, the wearable terminalcan start acquiring the second positioning result by the second positioning method using the reception as a trigger, transmits the start of positioning by the second positioning method to the serveras a message, and continuously transmits the second positioning result to the serverin substantially real time.

30 30 10 30 10 10 10 10 10 10 The servermonitors the second positioning result obtained by the second positioning method in real time, and when the serverdetermines that the wearable terminal, that is, the target person US has passed through the measurement point CP, the servertransmits a command to the wearable terminalto request to end positioning by the second positioning method. In response to the command, the wearable terminalstops the positioning by the second positioning method. The stop of the positioning by the second positioning method may be determined based on the first positioning result obtained by the wearable terminalwith the first positioning method. For example, when the wearable terminaldetermines that the number of satellites for measuring the position of the wearable terminalis insufficient or positioning accuracy is poor even when the positioning is performed based on the first positioning result obtained by the first positioning method, the wearable terminalperforms an operation of acquiring the second positioning result by the second positioning method and acquiring the first positioning result by the first positioning method when the number of satellites is ensured or the positioning accuracy is improved.

100 10 11 1 2 10 30 10 30 3 10 10 30 7 FIG. An example of operations of the position management systemwill be described with reference to. First, the wearable terminaloperates the first positioning circuitto start execution of positioning by the first positioning method (step S), and acquires the first positioning result (step S). The start of acquisition of the first positioning result can be directly instructed by operating the wearable terminal, and may be performed according to an instruction from the server. When the first positioning result is acquired, the wearable terminaltransmits the first positioning result to the server(step S). The wearable terminalrepeatedly acquires the first positioning result, and when the first positioning result is acquired, the wearable terminalsequentially transmits the first positioning result to the server.

30 21 10 22 30 10 30 10 23 30 10 30 The serverthat receives the first positioning result stores the first positioning result (step S), and determines whether the wearable terminal, that is, the target person US has entered the check area AI corresponding to the UWB coverage area based on the first positioning result (step S). When the serverdetermines that the wearable terminalis in the check area AI, that is, has entered the check area AI, the serverinstructs the wearable terminalto start positioning by the second positioning method and to stop positioning by the first positioning method (step S). When the serverdetermines that the wearable terminal, that is, the target person US is outside the check area AI, the servercontinues to receive the first positioning result.

10 30 4 12 5 6 10 30 7 10 10 30 The wearable terminalinstructed to perform the positioning by the second positioning method from the serverstops the execution of the positioning by the first positioning method (step S), operates the second positioning circuitto start the execution of the positioning by the second positioning method (step S), and acquires the second positioning result (step S). When the second positioning result is acquired, the wearable terminaltransmits the second positioning result to the server(step S). The wearable terminalrepeatedly acquires the second positioning result, and when the second positioning result is acquired, the wearable terminalsequentially transmits the second positioning result to the server.

30 24 10 25 30 10 30 26 10 27 30 10 30 The serverthat receives the second positioning result stores the second positioning result (step S), and determines whether the wearable terminal, that is, the target person US has passed through the measurement point CP based on the second positioning result (step S). When the serverdetermines that the wearable terminalhas passed the measurement point CP, the serverrecords a passage time of the measurement point CP (step S), and instructs the wearable terminalto start positioning by the first positioning method and to stop positioning by the second positioning method (step S). When the serverdetermines that the wearable terminalhas not passed the measurement point CP, the servercontinues to transmit the second positioning result.

10 30 8 11 9 3 The wearable terminalinstructed by the serverto perform the positioning by the first positioning method stops executing the positioning by the second positioning method (step S), operates the first positioning circuitto start the execution of the positioning by the first positioning method (step S), and acquires the first positioning result. Thereafter, although details are omitted, operations from step Sand subsequent steps described above are repeated. Accordingly, when there are a plurality of the measurement points CP, it is possible to record the passage time of each measurement point CP, record a passage time of the goal, and check the approximate passage route.

100 100 30 110 120 110 110 110 110 110 120 110 The position management systemor a control method thereof according to the first embodiment described above is the position management systemor the control method thereof that manages the position of the target person US using the server, the deviceattached to the target person US, and a plurality of apparatusesdisposed in a predetermined range set in advance, that is, the check area AI, the position information about the deviceacquired by the first positioning method of acquiring the position information based on the satellite signal is acquired from the devicethat executes the first positioning method, it is determined whether the target person US is present in the check area AI, when it is determined that the target person US is present in the check area AI, the deviceis caused to stop the execution of the first positioning method, and the deviceis caused to acquire the position information by the second positioning method different from the first positioning method, and the second positioning method is a positioning method of measuring the position of the devicebased on the relative positions between the plurality of apparatusesand the device.

110 120 110 110 The second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring the position of the devicebased on the relative positions between the plurality of apparatusesand the device. Therefore, for example, the position of the devicecan be accurately determined by the second positioning method in a predetermined area including the measurement point, even when positioning satisfying necessary accuracy cannot be performed by the first positioning method due to the influence of multipath.

Hereinafter, a position management system and a control method thereof according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. The position management system according to the second embodiment is a partial modification of the position management system according to the first embodiment, and description of portions common to those of the position management system according to the first embodiment will be omitted.

8 FIG. 100 50 210 50 210 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 21 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 a b a As illustrated in, the position management systemadditionally includes a first monitoring unitA that is disposed corresponding to one of outer edges of the check area AI, which is a predetermined range, along the course MC and that acquires device information about a wearable terminal, and a second monitoring unitB that is disposed corresponding to the other of the outer edges of the check area AI, which is a predetermined range, along the course MC and that acquires the device information about the wearable terminal. The positioning anchorsA,B,C, andD constituting the anchor setcan communicate with each other. Among these positioning anchorsA,B,C, andD, two positioning anchorsA andD disposed outdoors are first apparatusesthat acquire position information indicating positions where the positioning anchorsA andD are disposed using the first positioning method, two positioning anchorsB andC disposed indoors are second apparatuses, and position information in which the positioning anchorsB andC are disposed is acquired based on a relative position between the positioning anchorsA andD, which are first apparatuses, and the positioning anchorsB andC. That is, the two positioning anchorsB andC are blocked by a structure LS such as a roof, and cannot perform satellite positioning by the first positioning method. However, satellite positioning by the first positioning method is possible for the two positioning anchorsA andD disposed outdoors of the structure LS. The two positioning anchorsB andC that are not disposed outdoors of the structure LS can detect their own positions with the same accuracy as the positioning anchorsA andD based on first positioning results of the two positioning anchorsA andD serving as references and the relative position information with respect to the positioning anchorsA andD.

9 FIG. 50 210 18 210 50 51 53 30 54 50 55 50 56 51 56 56 56 50 59 51 210 210 210 53 30 a b Referring to, the first monitoring unitA is a tag reader and reads identification information set in the wearable terminalfrom a wireless tag circuitincorporated in the wearable terminal. The first monitoring unitA includes a transmission and reception circuitwith an RFID wireless tag, a communication devicethat performs wireless communication with the server, an input and output devicethat receives information necessary for operating the first monitoring unitA and outputs a processing result and a state, a storage devicethat stores a program for operating the first monitoring unitA, and a control circuitthat operates the transmission and reception circuitto acquire tag information including the identification information. The control circuitincludes a CPUand a memory, and operates based on an installed program. The first monitoring unitA outputs a radio wave of a predetermined band from an antennavia the transmission and reception circuit, receives a response wave from the wearable terminalpresent in the vicinity, identifies the wearable terminal, and acquires necessary information from the wearable terminal. The communication deviceexchanges digital information with the serverby inter-terminal wireless communication such as a wireless LAN.

50 50 50 50 50 50 210 50 210 30 210 50 210 Since the second monitoring unitB has the same structure as the first monitoring unitA and functions in the same manner as the first monitoring unitA, the description thereof will be omitted. However, the first monitoring unitA is disposed on an inlet side of the check area AI, and the second monitoring unitB is disposed on an outlet side of the check area AI. That is, when the first monitoring unitA detects the wearable terminal, it means that the runner who is the target person US is approaching the measurement point CP, and when the second monitoring unitB detects the wearable terminal, it means that the runner who is the target person US has passed the measurement point CP and is moving away. In this case, the servercan confirm that the specific wearable terminalhas entered the check area AI and approaches the measurement point CP based on detection information from the first monitoring unitA, and can instruct the specific wearable terminalto start positioning by the second positioning method, that is, to perform positioning by the second positioning method.

10 FIG. 2 FIG. 210 10 18 is a block diagram illustrating the wearable terminal. A difference from the wearable terminalaccording to the first embodiment illustrated inis that the wireless tag circuitfunctioning as an RFID wireless tag is added.

50 210 210 50 210 30 30 210 50 210 210 50 210 30 30 210 210 50 16 210 12 30 210 50 16 210 12 In the case of the present embodiment, when the first monitoring unitA on the inlet side communicates with the specific wearable terminaland acquires identification information about the wearable terminal, the first monitoring unitA transmits the identification information about the wearable terminalto the server, and the serverinstructs the wearable terminalof the received identification information to start positioning by the second positioning method. In contrast, when the second monitoring unitB on the outlet side communicates with the specific wearable terminaland acquires the identification information about the wearable terminal, the second monitoring unitB transmits the identification information about the wearable terminalto the server, and the servercan perform an operation of instructing the wearable terminalof the received identification information to stop the positioning by the second positioning method. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. When the wearable terminaldetects the first monitoring unitA, the arithmetic deviceof the wearable terminalmay operate the second positioning circuit, start positioning by the second positioning method, and transmit an obtained second positioning result to the server. In addition, when the wearable terminaldetects the second monitoring unitB, the arithmetic deviceof the wearable terminalmay stop an operation of the second positioning circuit.

11 210 50 210 210 11 210 210 The positioning executed by the first positioning circuitof the wearable terminalcan be stopped when identification is established between the first monitoring unitA and the wearable terminal. When the wearable terminalreceives the UWB communication signal, the positioning executed by the first positioning circuitof the wearable terminalmay be stopped, or the positioning may be stopped when the wearable terminalmoves into the structure LS and cannot acquire a satellite signal.

100 210 11 1 2 210 30 3 11 12 FIGS.and An example of operations of the position management systemwill be described with reference to. First, the wearable terminaloperates the first positioning circuitto start execution of positioning by the first positioning method (step S), and acquires the first positioning result (step S). When the first positioning result is acquired, the wearable terminaltransmits the first positioning result to the server(step S).

30 21 The serverthat receives the first positioning result stores the first positioning result (step S).

210 210 50 11 50 210 210 50 12 210 210 50 210 30 13 210 210 23 In parallel with this storage, the wearable terminaldetermines whether communication is established between the wearable terminaland the first monitoring unitA (step S), and when the communication with the first monitoring unitA can be performed, the wearable terminaltransmits the identification information about the wearable terminalto the first monitoring unitA (step S). When communicating with the wearable terminaland receiving the identification information from the wearable terminal, the first monitoring unitA transmits the identification information about the wearable terminalto the server(step S). The server 30 that receives the identification information about the wearable terminalinstructs the wearable terminalto start positioning by the second positioning method and to stop positioning by the first positioning method (step S).

210 30 4 12 5 6 210 30 7 210 210 30 The wearable terminalinstructed to perform the positioning by the second positioning method from the serverstops the execution of the positioning by the first positioning method (step S), operates the second positioning circuitto start the execution of the positioning by the second positioning method (step S), and acquires the second positioning result (step S). When the second positioning result is acquired, the wearable terminaltransmits the second positioning result to the server(step S). The wearable terminalrepeatedly acquires the second positioning result, and when the second positioning result is acquired, the wearable terminalsequentially transmits the second positioning result to the server.

30 24 210 25 210 30 26 The serverthat receives the second positioning result stores the second positioning result (step S), and determines whether the wearable terminal, that is, the target person US has passed the measurement point CP based on the second positioning result (step S). When the server 30 determines that the wearable terminalhas passed the measurement point CP, the serverrecords a passage time of the measurement point CP (step S).

210 210 50 14 50 210 210 50 15 210 210 50 210 30 16 210 210 27 In parallel with this record, the wearable terminaldetermines whether communication is established between the wearable terminaland the second monitoring unitB (step S), and when the communication with the second monitoring unitB can be performed, the wearable terminaltransmits the identification information about the wearable terminalto the second monitoring unitB (step S). When communicating with the wearable terminaland receiving the identification information from the wearable terminal, the second monitoring unitB transmits the identification information about the wearable terminalto the server(step S). The server 30 that receives the identification information about the wearable terminalinstructs the wearable terminalto start positioning by the first positioning method and to stop positioning by the second positioning method (step S).

210 30 8 11 9 3 The wearable terminalinstructed to perform the positioning by the first positioning method from the serverstops the execution of the positioning by the second positioning method (step S), operates the first positioning circuitto start the execution of the positioning by the first positioning method (step S), and acquires the first positioning result. Thereafter, although details are omitted, operations from step Sand subsequent steps described above are repeated.

100 The structures described above are presented by way of examples, and can be changed in various manners within a scope in which the same functions can be obtained. For example, the position management systemcan be applied not only to a marathon but also to various competitions in which players move.

12 12 The second positioning circuitmay perform positioning using UWB communication in a broad sense instead of UWB communication in a narrow sense. The second positioning circuitmay perform positioning by inter-terminal wireless communication such as Bluetooth.

20 The anchor setmay be installed not only around the measurement point CP through which runners pass but also at the goal.

20 20 20 20 20 20 The second positioning method is not limited to a method for measuring distances to the positioning anchorsA,B, andC, and may be a method for determining relative positions by determining orientations in which the positioning anchorsA,B, andC are present.

The present disclosure will be summarized below as appendices.

A control method for a position management system that manages a position of a target person using a server, a device attached to the target person, and a plurality of apparatuses disposed in a predetermined range set in advance, the control method including:

acquiring, from the device configured to execute a first positioning method for acquiring position information based on a satellite signal, the position information about the device acquired by the first positioning method; determining whether the target person is present in the predetermined range; and causing the device to acquire the position information by a second positioning method different from the first positioning method when it is determined that the target person is present in the predetermined range, in which the second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring a position of the device based on relative positions between the plurality of apparatuses and the device.

The second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring the position of the device based on the relative positions between the plurality of apparatuses and the device. Therefore, for example, the position of the device can be accurately determined by the second positioning method in a predetermined area including the measurement point, even when positioning satisfying necessary accuracy cannot be performed by the first positioning method due to the influence of multipath.

The control method according to Appendix 1, in which

the target person is a person who passes through a predetermined course, and

the predetermined range includes a predetermined measurement location on the course.

In this case, the time when the device, that is, the target person passes through the measurement location can be accurately detected by the second positioning method.

The control method according to Appendix 2, in which

the second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring the position of the device based on the relative positions between the plurality of apparatuses and the device calculated by performing UWB communication, and

it is determined whether the target person passes through the measurement location based on the position information about the device acquired by the second positioning method.

By using precise UWB communication, it is possible to accurately determine the passage time of the measurement location. A range in which UWB communication can be performed can be set as the predetermined range.

The control method according to Appendix 3, in which

among the plurality of apparatuses used in the second positioning method, a first apparatus is an apparatus configured to acquire position information indicating a position where the first apparatus is disposed using the first positioning method.

It is possible to set and specify the position where the first apparatus is disposed with high accuracy based on satellite information without being set by a person.

The control method according to Appendix 4, in which

among the plurality of apparatuses used in the second positioning method, a second apparatus different from the first apparatus acquires position information indicating a position where the second apparatus is disposed based on a relative position between the first apparatus and the second apparatus.

Even when the first apparatus is disposed at a position where the GNS cannot be received, the position can be automatically set and specified.

The control method according to any one of Appendices 1 to 5, in which

it is determined whether the target person is present in the predetermined range based on the position information about the device acquired by the first positioning method.

In this case, it is possible to switch from the first positioning method to the second positioning method using the result of the first positioning method.

The control method according to Appendix 6, in which

the predetermined range is a range in which the UWB communication in a broad sense is possible between the device and the first apparatus.

The control method according to Appendix 7, in which

the device is caused to stop execution of the second positioning method and is caused to execute the first positioning method when it is determined that the target person passes through a measurement point.

Switching from positioning using UWB communication to satellite positioning can be performed.

The control method according to any one of Appendices 1 to 5, in which

device information about the device is acquired from a first monitoring unit disposed corresponding to an outer edge of the predetermined range along the course, and

when the device information is acquired from the first monitoring unit, the device is caused to stop execution of the first positioning method and to execute the second positioning method.

In an indoor place where it is less likely to acquire the position information, the positioning method can be switched using the first monitoring unit as a trigger.

The control method according to Appendix 9, in which

the device information about the device is acquired from a second monitoring unit disposed corresponding to an outer edge of the predetermined range along the course, and

when the device information is acquired from the second monitoring unit, the device is caused to stop execution of the second positioning method and to execute the first positioning method.

A control method for a position management system that manages a position of a target person using a server, a device attached to the target person, and a plurality of apparatuses disposed in a predetermined range set in advance, the method including:

executing, by the device, a first positioning method for acquiring position information based on a satellite signal;

acquiring, by the server, the position information about the device acquired by the first positioning method;

determining, by the server, whether the target person is present in the predetermined range; and

performing, by the server, control of causing the device to acquire the position information by a second positioning method different from the first positioning method when it is determined that the target person is present in the predetermined range, in which

the second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring a position of the device based on relative positions between the plurality of apparatuses and the device.

A position management system for managing a position of a target person using a server, a device attached to the target person, and a plurality of apparatuses disposed in a predetermined range set in advance, in which

from the device configured to execute a first positioning method for acquiring position information based on a satellite signal, the position information about the device acquired by the first positioning method is acquired,

whether the target person is present in the predetermined range is determined,

the device is caused to acquire the position information by a second positioning method different from the first positioning method when it is determined that the target person is present in the predetermined range, and

the second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring a position of the device based on relative positions between the plurality of apparatuses and the device.

The position management system according to Appendix 12, in which

the second positioning method is a positioning method for measuring the position of the device based on the relative positions between the plurality of apparatuses and the device calculated by performing UWB communication.

The position management system according to Appendix 12 or 13, in which

among the plurality of apparatuses used in the second positioning method, a first apparatus is an apparatus configured to acquire position information indicating a position where the first apparatus is disposed using the first positioning method.

The position management system according to any one of Appendices 12 to 14, in which

the server includes a display unit configured to display the position information acquired by the second positioning method and time information when the position information is acquired.

The position management system according to Appendix 15, in which

the server displays the position information in association with identification information about the device by the display unit.